HEM Pharma raises 54B won to build second Sejong plant for Amway orders
What's the deal? HEM PharmaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has raised 54 billion won ($40 million) through a convertible bond issue backed by domestic institutional investors, the Korean company said on August 18. GVA Asset ManagementDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Timefolio Asset ManagementDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Korea Investment & SecuritiesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and A-One Asset Management participated, alongside the National Growth Fund, which put in 5 billion won through a sub-fund managed by Mirae Asset Global InvestmentsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
Why now? The raise follows HEM Pharma's first formal order in June for its new product, Nutrilite Probiotics, from Access Business GroupDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the supply-chain arm of AmwayDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The order, worth about 4.6 billion won, is an initial supply volume ahead of the product's Korean launch next month through Amway KoreaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
What's the endgame? HEM Pharma will spend 27 billion won on a second Sejong plant to meet rising demand from Amway. The remainder covers 7.5 billion won to expand and automate gut microbiome analysis, 15.5 billion won in operating funds, and 4 billion won to exercise a call option on its first convertible bond series.
The company plans to break ground within the year and aims for operation in the second half of 2027. It wants to more than double its minimum processing volume by the end of next year and secure fivefold capacity by the end of 2028, in line with a planned push into the United States.
Part of the operating funds — 7.5 billion won — will go toward VignalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, an AI-based health platform that analyses biosignals through a toilet-mounted device. HEM Pharma recently signed a pilot agreement with Celltrion for a demonstration project.
What could go wrong? The convertible bonds carry a fixed conversion price with no downward refixing clause, so investors cannot lower it if shares fall. Bondholders can request conversion one year after payment and exercise an early redemption right two years after.
The signal: "The addition of National Growth Fund capital to the large-scale participation of institutional investors means the company's global growth potential has earned the trust of both the public and private sectors," said chief executive officer Ji Joseph. The mix of public and private backing points to a wider bet on Korean microbiome firms scaling into global consumer-health supply chains.
Read more: Seoul Economic Daily
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
